1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for enhancing a specific image feature(s) in accordance with an application or allowing blobization (clustering pixels into blobs) from a multi-valued image acquired by capturing an object surface, an image processing method used in the image processing apparatus, and a computer program for causing a computer execute processing in the image processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been developed a large number of techniques for executing filter processing on a captured image to reduce noise present in the image, enhance a predetermined edge portion, or the like, so as to accurately extract a target object from the image. There has also been developed a technique for extracting a target object more accurately, by enhancing only a predetermined contrast in an image.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-527734 discloses a method for automatically inspecting a continuously moving web, in which a blob list is created from an imaged digital data stream and blobs included in the created blob list are analyzed and compared with a sample image, to accurately identify a defect on the image.
However, in the image processing method used in the inspecting method, which is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-527734, although a certain effect is taken for improvement in accuracy to identify a defect, the degree of the filter processing cannot be varied in accordance with a user's intention. For example, when the user executes filter processing performable at higher speed in a broader range, it is not possible to resolve difficulties in using the filter processing in such a case where a blurring degree is larger than that of the filtering processing of which the user is desired, thus necessitating re-execution of the filter processing from the beginning, or adversely an image is hard to blur to a desired degree.
In order to expand applications of the image after the processing, it is more preferable from the view point of the usability to allow the user to adjust, while checking, a degree of filter processing. In other words, it is more desirable that there be a range of the degree to which the image can be blurred by the filter processing.